On Sept. 13, 1971, New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller ordered armed state troopers to raid the prison in Attica, New York, ending a prison uprising to protest inhumane conditions at the facility. Troopers then indiscriminately shot over 2,000 rounds of ammunition, killing 29 prisoners and 10 guards. Recently released audio recordings provide a glimpse into the bizarre savage rituals of US federal and local rulers coming together.

First Rockefeller phones President Richard Nixon, boasting of his absolute success in cleanly casting out the demons, while ingratiating himself with "Mister President". Nixon responds with canned cheerleading - clearly in desperate need of a teleprompter (Nixon spoke more carefully since he was taping, but apparently did not inform Rockefeller). But the next day, after newspapers report that all the guards were killed by troopers in the raid, Rockefeller executes a classic Politician's About-Face, arguing that no one could reasonably expect absolute success in that situation!

Along the way, the boys bluster about how the Attica crisis "separated the sheep from the goats", and poke fun at NY Times reporter sheep Tom Wicker and NYC mayor sheep John Lindsay (who Nixon calls "the new Democrat" and "the convert", because Lindsay switched from Republican to Democrat). And goat Rocky explains why he was too sheepish to go to Attica himself.

Perhaps their shared mindset is best revealed when Nixon asks: "How many PEOPLE..." and Rockefeller anticipates his question and answers: "Seven HOSTAGES were killed". It was understood that the only "people" were the hostages, so Nixon later also had to ask: "How many PRISONERS were killed?". Moreover, they reconfirmed the less-than-human status of the prisoners when Nixon asks: "Is this a...are these primarily blacks?", and Rockefeller falsely claims: "Oh yes, the whole thing was led by the blacks".


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Date: 1971
Keywords: attica; prison; uprising; rockefeller; nixon; massacre

Creative Commons license: CC0 1.0 Universal

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Reviewer: Johnny Hammer - - December 14, 2011
Subject: Taking stock...
Let's just take a moment and consider the lead-in to these recordings.

I am no fan of Nixon's and think even less of the Rockefeller clan as a general rule, but to capitulate in this circumstance and bend to the will of the hostage takers, bestowing on them total amnesty, is a dog that won't hunt. Do that, and you'll have the word spread right around the country that the government is ready to lay down when the defecation hits the windmill. What happens then? You best believe the baton wouldn't take long to pass to Folsom, San Quentin, or about a thousand other slammers that Johnny Cash didn't have the time to make a temporary recording studio out of.

Four days of negotiations and twenty-odd demands agreed to is a victory for those who may have had genuine concerns about the conditions in the Attica Correctional Facility, but they didn't quit while they were streets ahead. Why not?

Al Pacino screamed "Attica!" in 1975 and the crowd clapped its hands. After reading the leftist tripe passed off as a description of Tricky's conversation on the matter, it seems that many still are...